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Hello everyone , I've been happy with my better half's performance in regards to knife maintenance and care as of late , so I feel comfortable upgrading some of the kitchen knives. Probably looking at some Tojiro or Shuns to fill in the workhorse stuff for her. But I am particularly interested in getting a Gyuto or two or three , for myself to play with.

Im looking for hard knives with excellent edge retention. I don't particulairly care how hard they are to sharpen , my only stipulation being that it has smaller Edge Pro friendly bevels. After spending some time perusing the store heres whats on my radar.

Takamura Migaki R-2 Gyuto 210mm

Kohetsu HAP40 Gyuto 210mm

Haruyuki SRS-15 Gyuto 210mm

Hiromoto Gyuto 210mm

Takeshi Saji 210mm Gyuto

Sukenari Damascus ZDP189 Gyuto 210mm

The Takamura and the Kohatsu are both on the short list , but I am interested to hear some objective experiences regarding edge hardness and edge retention in these knives , and of course I am open to other suggestions. Also interested in some Nubatama stuff , but I want to experiment and play a little bit before I get a full blown custom.

Sadden, whats your budget? how worried about chipping and general toughness are you?

Mark H.

Post subject: Re: Gyuto Reccomendations

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:48 pm

Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:00 pmPosts: 60

I love my Takamura Migaki 210. My favourite knife, for sure. I cook at home, not in a professional environment, and haven't cooked as much since getting my Takamura nearly two months ago as I usually do, but as near as I can tell the knife is as sharp today as it was the day I unboxed it, which was pretty darn sharp. I use it on a bamboo cutting board, mostly for vegetable prep for stir-fry and the occasional trimming of steaks on a white poly cutting board. I know, I know… have to get a decent end grain board one of these days.

I don't baby the knife but I don't slam it into the board either. A careful inspection of the edge with my 10x Belomo loupe shows no sign of chipping or rolling… no shiny spots reflecting light when examined edge-on. Again, I don't use it as much as I would like to, but I have done no touch-ups to it so far. No honing on the Idahone, no stropping either. I'm still using its out-of-the-box edge.

chocolatecurry

Post subject: Re: Gyuto Reccomendations

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:58 pm

Joined: Mon May 06, 2013 2:34 pmPosts: 101

Love my Takamura as well. Cuts extremely well, the geometry is super thin and is a great knife for all kinds of prep. OOTB the edge is excellent, probably the best I've used on a japanese knife thus far. I have probably been a little rough with it though - I probably rolled the edge due to cutting pizza crust on a bamboo board I was concerned with sharpening such a hard steel, but my typical progression (1200, 2K synthetic alto, 5K rika, 8K kitayama) worked really well. I was able to raise a burr quickly and get it as good or better than out of the box. And I'll say this too, I was perfectly happy even with a rolled edge to use it for prep, the degradation in performance wasn't all that large...

Not as tall as I would like but I keep over looking that fact, so glad my GF sent it out to me instead of keeping it at the house

MowgFace

Post subject: Re: Gyuto Reccomendations

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:59 pm

Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2012 5:24 amPosts: 449

chocolatecurry wrote: I probably rolled the edge due to cutting pizza crust on a bamboo board

Im suprised to hear reports about edge rolling, for such a hard, wear resisitant steel.

Mowgs

phillysco

Post subject: Re: Gyuto Reccomendations

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 3:05 am

Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2012 1:34 pmPosts: 360

R2 and HAP40, both excellent edge retention steels.The Takamura is out of stock right nowThe Kohetsu HAP40 is in stock, and there might be a nice used one for sale in the ClassifiedsI have the Kohetsu Nakiri in HAP40, killer edge, have not used it enough to make a first hand comment on edge retention,since I am a home cook, it will probably be 3-6 months before I have to sharpen it.

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